Garage



G. H. YOUNG.

I GARAGE. APPLICATION FILED JULY 11,1919- 1,341,097, I Patented May 25,1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1- [NVENTUH AT UHNEY G. H. YOUNG.

GARAGE.

APPLICATION min JULY I1, 1919.

1,341,097, Patented May 25, 1920.

2 SHEE'lS-SHEET 2- I Tamra.

UNITED STATES PATENT -OFFICE.

GEORGE H. YOUNG, OF ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, ASSIGNOR T0 AUTOMATIC STORAGEPLATFORM COMPANY, & CORPORATION OF MINNESOTA.

GARAGE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 25, 1920.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE H. YOUNG a citizen of the United States,residin at st. Paul, in the count of Ramsey and tate of Minnesota, havenvented new and useful Improvements in Garages, of which the followingis a specification.

The primary object of this invention is to provide improvements whichwill facilitate ticular stall or position with the least amount of laborand in the shortest possible time. These objects also are attained bythe use of my invention.

To these ends my invention comprises the features of construction andcombination of parts hereinafter more particularly de-- scribed andclaimed.

In the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification, Figure1 is a diagrammatic floor plan of a garage equipped with my inventionthe walls of the building being in section; Fig. 2 is a section taken onthe line 22 of'Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a vertical section of a detail showingthe means for connecting any one of the carriages to a drawbar forpropelling the carriage so connected; Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectionalview of a detail taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a plan ofthe propelling mechanism illustrated in Fig. 4 not any of-the carriagesor floor being illustrated, and Fig. 6 is a section of a detail taken onthe line 6'-6 of Fig. 4. y

In Fig. 1 of the drawing is illustrated a typical floor plan of a garageequip ed with my invention, it being understoo that a building structuremay have as many superimposed floors and rooms asgdesired and that itsdimension's'may be varied according to the number of automobiles it isdesired to provide 5 ace for storing them. In the event more tan onefloor is provided a suitable elevator may be employed for lifting anyand lowering the automobiles, the drawings not showing this feature asit will be readily understood without illustration. Referring to Fig. 1,A indicates the walls of the garage and B the floor. Across the front ofthe garage are suitable track rails 10 upon which, what I have chosen toterm.

for convenience. a loading carria e 11, is adapted to traveltransversely of t e building to receive an automobile through thedoorway 12 and permit movin itinto position at the front end of thebuilding to connect with any lane between any longitudinal series ofcarriages C, it being understood that the surface of the carriage 11lies substantially in the same horizontal plane as the upper surfaces ofthe platforms of carriages .O.

Arranggd transversely of the building in its floor are pairs oftransverse grooves 13 extending completely across the room, thesegrooves forming trackways in which the supporting rollers 14 are adaptedto travel, said roller supports carrying carriage platforms 15 which aresubstantially of rectangular form and adapted to coincide transverselyas well as longitudinally, there being a transverse series of carriagesmounted in each pair of track grooves 13 and a longitudinal series ofcarriages arranged longitudinally of the building.

These carriages in number substantially fill the space across thebuilding excepting that one vacant space is-left in which a carriage isnot provided in each transverse series, whereby the carriages may bemoved the width of a carriage in each pair of track grooves 18. Thus itis possible to move all or any portion of the transverse series ofcarriages the distance of the width of a single carriage and form avacant lane between carriages so as to facilitate access to anyparticular carriage in any portion of the building from the loadingcarriage 11.

'The floors of the track grooves 13 are provided with wear plates 16 andeach of the carriages C is provided with four carrier rollers 14, but itwill be understood that any suitable number may beprovided and that' theplatform of the carriage C may be of being a single piece of boilerplate.

Eac carriage has a coupling pin 17 which is free to slide verticallythrough the platform of the carriage to engage .or dissuitableconstruction, that illustrated pin in engagingo position as illustratedin Fig. 3. The catch 21 is formed with a foot engaging member 22 whichwhen pushed 1 down by the foot is adapted to disengage the catch fromthe head20 and allow the coupling pin to spring upwardly through theengaging opening 23 in the drawbar and out of engaging position. Theupward movement of the coupling pin is limited by the stop shoulder 24.The sides of the opening 23 taperdownwardly to assist in guidin the pininto engagement with the drawbar. The floor at suitable intervals isprovided with sloping releasing lugs25 over which the lower end of pin17 is adapted to sweep as the carriage and the drawbar travel toautomatically release the coupling pin up.- wardly out of engagementwith the spring catch 21, the guiding shoulder 26 on the spring catchbeingsuitably shaped to permit this action to'transpire automatically.

The coupling pins on. each transverseseries of carriages are arranged inalinement above a transverse drawbar 18, there being a series ofcoupling pins and a companion drawbar provided for eachtransverse'series of carriages. The drawbar 18 of each series ofcarriages is slidably mounted to move longitudinally thereof in guides61 in the floor B and is formed with rack teeth 27 facing downwardly.These rack teeth mesh with the teeth of a driving gear :wheel 28 whichis mounted on a shaft 29, said shaft being journaled in a suitable frame32 which is mounted in the floor B of the garage. A main driving shaft'36 provided with a driv-v ingpulley 62 is journaled in the floor andextends through all of the frames 32, it being understood that there isa set of reversing gearing provided .for each of the drawbars. The gear28 is adapted to propel the drawbar with which it is connected forwardly or backwardly to propel -any carriage which maybe coupled theretoby its coupling pin. stationed below the driving 1 gear 28 with theirteethin mesh with the .3 teeth of said gear, are two gears 33 and 34.

The gear 33 being journaled upon a counter shaft 35 in'the frame 32 andthe gear 34' journaled upon the main drivingshaft 36.

The shaft 35 is continuously revolved by the shaft 36 through theinterconnected gears 40 and 41. Each of the ears 34 and 33 isrespectively provided wit a driven clutch member 37 and 43which areadapted tobe driven respectively by'the driving clutch members 38 and 42which are slidably.

" are journaled in the supports 48 in the floor and extend across thefloor below the carriages there being a pair of pedals arranged adjacenteach space which is adapted to be occupied by a carriage and a pair ofclutch shifting shafts for each transverse row of b carriages. Thecarriage platforms pro ect over the pedals. Thus there is always a pairof pedals exposed at the blank space to be occupied by a carriage. Thelower arms 49 and 50 of the pedals are connected by links 51 and 52 toclutch shifts 53 and 54. To automatically release either of the clutchesthe upper ends of the clutch shifts are formed with release bars 56 and57 which are sta- 'tioned in the path, of releasing lugs 58 and thewidth of a carriage, either one or the other of the clutch members 37and 43 is disengaged to stop the carriage at the end of its travel. Thisdistance of travel is always equal to the width of the carriage so thatwhenever any of the coupling pins is depressed the correspondingcarriage is coupled to the 'drawbar and the carriage so connected ismoved forwardly the width of a carriage and automatically stopped itbeing assumed that one of the pedals 44 or 45 has been depressed toengage a clutch according to which direction it is desired to move thecarriage. F or instance, if it is desired to move a carriage to theleft-the pedal 44 might, be depressed or if'it'is desired to move thecarriage to the right the pedal 45 would be depressed a pair of thepedals being accessible for-that purpose at the blank space in thecorresponding transverse series of spaces provided for the earriagesl Inoperation the shaft 36 is continuously revolved. The carriages canbeoperated to most conveniently make accessible any particular carriage bydepressing the reversing pedals according to which direction it isdesired to move any of the carriages in the way in any of the transverserows and bv depressing the coupling-pins in the carriages to be moved,it being understood that in stationary position the drawbars areautomatii operate the connecting and disconnecting clutches; have beenarranged to provide a clear longically stopped in positionso that theircoupling openings 23 are in substantial registration with the couplingpins of the carriages above. Thus itis desirable first to depress thecoupling pins of the carriages to be moved before depressing the pedalswhich As soon as all of the carriages tudinal lane either on the flooror over the carriages not occupied by automobiles, the automobile to bemoved can be driven down thelane so provided on tothe loading carriageand the loading carriage moved into registering position with thedoorway 12.

This operation can be performed quickly and bythe' movement of a minimumnumber of carriages without molesting anyautomobiles in'the garage whicharebeing stored except by the movement of the carriages.

In accordance with the patent statutes I have described the principlesof operation of my invention together with the apparatus which I nowconsider to be the best embodiment thereof but I desire to have itunderstood that the construction shown isonly illustrative and that theinvention can be carried out by other means and ap lied to uses otherthan those above set orth within the scope of the following claims.

. Havingdescribed my invention, what I claim is new and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is:

1. A storage structure, comprising, in combination with its floor, aplurality of car riages on said floor arranged in transverse andlongitudinal rows, the carriages of said transverse rows being movabletransversely a distance equal to the width of one of said carriages to,facilitate distributing the carriages and providing a longitudinal lanedown which a storage load may be moved.

2. A storage structure, comprising, in combination with its floor, aplurality of carriages on said floor arranged intransverse andlongitudinal rows, the carriages of said transverse rows being movabletransversely and occupying less than the width of said structure tofacilitate distributing the carriages and providing a longitudinal laneat any place between the sides of the structure down which a storageload may be moved.

3. A storage structure, comprising, in combination with its floor,a'pluralitylof power driven carriages on said floor arranged intransverse and longitudinal rows, the carriages of said transverse rowsbeing movable transversely and occupying less than the width of saidstructure to facilitate distributing the carriages and providing alongitudinal lane at any place between the sides of the structure downwhich a storage a load may be, moved;

4. A storage structure, comprising, in combination with its floor,transverse tracks on said floor, a plurality of power driven carriagesmounted for movement on said tracks and arranged in transverse andlongitudinal rows, the carriages of said transverse rows being movableon said tracks and occupying less than the width of said structure tofacilitate distributing the carriages and providing a longitudinal lanedown the space in front of any particular carriage located at the backofthe front transverse row of carriages down which a storage load may bemoved.

5. A storage structure, comprising, in com bination with its floor,transverse tracks on said'floor, a plurality of carriages mounted formovement on said tracks and arranged in transverse and longitudinalrows, the carriages of said transverse rows beingjmovable on said tracksand occupying less than the width of said structure to facilitatedistributing the carriages and providing a 1ongitudinal lane down-thespace in front of a any particular carriage located at the back of thefront transverse row of carriagesdown which a storage load may be moved,

external power means for moving the carriages on said rails, and meansfor connecting said carriages to and disconnecting them from sald powermeans. a y i 6. A storage structure, comprislng, in combination with itsfloor, a plurality of car riages on said floor arranged in transverseand longitudinal rows, the carriages of said transverse rows beingmovabletransversely a distance equal to the width of one of saidcarriages to facilitate distributing the carriages and providing alongitudinal lane be tween carriages down which a storage load may bemoved, and means'in said floor for propelling said carriagestransversely.

7. -A storage structure, comprising, in com bination with its floor, aplurality of carriages on said floor arranged in transverse andlongitudinal rows, the carriages of said transverse rows being'movabletransversely and occupying less than the width of the garage tofacilitate distributing the car riages and providing a longitudinal laneat anyplace between the sides of the structure down which a storage loadmay be moved, tracks below'each transverse row of carriages upon whichthe carriages are mounttudinal lane down the space in front of anyparticular carriage located at the back of the front transverse row ofcarriages down which a storage load may be moved, external power meansfor moving the carriages on said rails and means for connecting said'carriages to and disconnecting them from said power means.

9. A storage structure, comprising, in combination with its floor, aplurality of carriages on said floor arranged in transverse andlongitudinal rows, the carriages of said transverse rows being movabletransversely a distance equal to the width of one of said carriages tofacilitate distributing the carriages and providing a longitudinal lanebetween carriages down which a storage load may be moved, reversiblecarriage propelling means in said floor, means for connecting each ofthe carriages to said propelling means and means for automaticallydisconnecting said carriages from said propelling means at apredetermined position after a connected carriage has been propelledtransversely a distance substantially equal to its Width.

Signed at St. Paul, in the county of Rainsey and State of Minnesota,this 26th day GEORGE H. YOUNG.

of June, 1919.

